That's Life
by DreamCrafter
Summary: Love, romance, High School and beyond! Jump into a roller-coaster of love between the young couples! Mainly PS with CS, OS, LgS.


**Hey guys, this is my second and newest fan fiction, so hope you all enjoy!**

**This story is going to be based in an academy, and includes Pearlshipping, Contestshipping, Leafgreenshipping and OrangeShipping. Sorry if the characters (especially ones like Tracey and Drew) don't seem in character, I wasn't really into the first generation of the anime. Also, sorry if I don't use the terms of high school quite right, I'm from England where there's a whole different system but I figured I'd write it set in high school because I know most of my viewers are American. **

**As for my other story, Of Love and Hate, I should be updating that soon too, it's just I've been really busy lately. People have been PMing me asking if I've discontinued that story. Don't worry; I'm still working on it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the songs that might be used throughout the course of this story.**

**Ages (I'll add to it as the story progresses):**

**Ash, Drew, Paul and Gary – 15**

**Dawn, May, Leaf and Misty – 15**

**Ursula - 15**

**Tracey – 16**

**Brock – 17**

**Please give this story a review, it helps me improve the quality of my stories as well as giving me motivation to write more, thanks!**

**Without further ado, let's get into the first chapter!**

Sunlight peeked into a bedroom and onto a girl fast asleep. She had midnight blue hair, pale skin and was wearing a long pink nightgown.

"Wake up sweetie, time to get ready!" A voice called out from downstairs.

The girl stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open to reveal glimmering blue eyes underneath, but the eyes immediately dulled once the girl remembered what was going to happen today.

An older woman in her mid-thirties opened the door to her room. "Morning, Dawn it's a big day today!" She exclaimed. Like her daughter, she had blue eyes and blue hair. She was Johanna, a top-coordinator before she retired. Dawn looked up to her, and wanted to follow in her footsteps.

Dawn rolled her eyes as she got out of bed. "I really don't think this is a good idea mum." She said before she grabbed a hairbrush and started attacking her bed-headed hair.

"You know it's for the good of yourself, breakfast is ready dear, come down when you're ready, and the ferry leaves in one hour." Johanna said before turning away, "Oh yes and there's a surprise for you downstairs."

After Dawn had straightened her hair, she brushed her teeth and started to change. Dawn decided on wearing a white undershirt with black mini-dress that had a V-shaped neck and a short pink skirt attached to it on top. She made up for how revealing the skirt was by wearing black socks that reached her lower thighs. She sighed as she recalled what happened last night.

"_WHAT?" A shout echoed around the Berlitz household in Twinleaf Town._

"_Calm down dear, it's for the good of yourself." Johanna said, a bit taken back by her daughter's reaction._

"_But mum, I don't want to leave! I probably hardly know anyone there!" Dawn whined._

"_Now now Dawn, you know that Lugia Academy of Excellence is one of the best out there." Johanna reasoned. "The only reason you've been accepted is because of your exceptional performance. Besides, I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends there."_

"_I don't care! I'm perfectly fine where I am." The younger bluenette argued back, "Anyways, I'll be sophomore so people there would already have had one year to make friends. It's not like I'm starting from freshman." _

"_Don't worry; you can take pokemon along with you so you won't be lonely."_

_Dawn sighed in defeat. "Fine…" She groaned as she stomped up the stairs to her room. She hated arguing with her mum._

"_The ferry leaves tomorrow at 9:00am so you better be ready by then!" Johanna shouted at the retreating figure of her daughter._

_As soon as Dawn got into her room, she slumped on her bed hugging the pillow for comfort. She knew that her mum meant the best for her, but leaving her friends, her home and 15 years of her life behind was still hard. Dawn sighed as she changed into her pyjamas and pulled her duvet over her. She stayed awake for a long time, pondering what the next day would be like._

After she felt everything was adequate, she walked downstairs, curious at what the 'surprise' was. As she came into the lounge, her eyes widened with surprise and joy.

"Dawn!" A voice squeaked as it launched itself on her with a flash of brown.

"Leaf!" Dawn squealed as she embraced her best friend. "What are you doing here?" They had met in pre-school and were inseparable since. They used to do everything together and Dawn felt like Leaf was the sister she never had. Neither of them had seen each other face-to-face for over one year, but still kept in regular contact.

"I go to Lugia Academy of Excellence. As soon as I heard you were accepted, I HAD to come over!" She exclaimed as both of them sat down.

"Great!" Dawn smiled as she popped a mouthful of cereal into her mouth. Over breakfast, they chatted about various things they did over the years and Leaf began telling Dawn about what the academy was like. Dawn had to admit it sounded like a great place to learn and make new friends.

"Come on you two, it's time to go!" Johanna called them, interrupting their conversation, "I've put all your suitcases into the boot."

"Coming mum!" Dawn shouted before she and Leaf dashed outside and into the car. The car journey was relatively quiet, besides the fact Johanna was pestering her daughter about what and what not to do. As they reached the port, Dawn quickly boarded the ship with all her belongings to not get harassed by her mother any more. After Leaf had joined her, the ferry began to make its way out of the port.

"Remember to call me every week!" Johanna called out.

"I know mum!" Dawn said as she waved to the disappearing figure of her mother. After the port was completely out of sight, Dawn went to sit down next to Leaf. The journey on the ferry wasn't very exciting, if you count out the part a wild Gyarados appeared near where Dawn was sitting and soaked her with a hydro pump before retreating into the water. As the ship approached its destination, Dawn couldn't help but wonder what was in store for her.

**~0~**

"We're finally here Pikachu!" A voice called out to his companion. The voice belonged a teen with messy black ebony hair, brown eyes and zigzags across his cheeks. This was Ash Ketchum, a sophomore of the Lugia Academy of Excellence.

"Pika!" The small yellow mouse pokemon exclaimed, tired from their journey. The duo had spent most of the day travelling from Pallet Town in the Kanto region to the academy located on the outskirts of the Sinnoh region.

It was the end of the Summer Break, so Ash was one of many students on their way back to the academy. Ash's first year at the academy was mediocre. He barely scraped through at the end of last year with an 'adequate' in every subject apart from Gym and Battle Training, which he passed with flying colours. During his first year at the Academy, he had made a few new friends as well as reunite with old ones.

"Hey Ashy Boy, so you decided to turn up on time," A voice called out behind Ash that made him roll his eyes. Only one person called him that. "Hey Gary," Ash greeted, deciding to let 'Ashy-Boy' slip this one time. Before Ash could say anything else, Gary slapped him hard on the back before leading him away.

"Come on Ashy, everyone's been waiting for you." Gary said as he marched Ash into the building.

"But-" Ash said desperately reaching out towards the canteen.

"No buts Ashy, everyone's been waiting long enough for your lazy ass to show up."

**~0~**

Ash had been dragged away to his dorm by Gary to find all his friends sitting around waiting for him. There they chatted about their holidays. Gary had gone to several other regions with his grandpa, Professor Oak, to study pokemon while Drew spent his holidays with his rich family lolling about in their summer house on the coast of Hoenn. Paul, to nobody's surprise had done intensive training with his Pokemon. Paul was determined to win this year's battle tournament after his loss in the second round.

After they had finished talking to each other about holidays, they chatted about different things, like sports, TV programmes and food. Upon hearing the word food, Ash remembered how hungry he was and dashed off to the canteen before the others could stop him again.

"Be right back guys!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran around a corner, making everyone else in the room sweatdrop.

"Same old Ash, eh?" Drew said, flicking his green hair. It had become a habit of his, attracting many girls to him.

"Oh please Drew," Gary said in an annoyed tone. "Stop with the hair flicking."

"Only when you stop being perverted." Drew responded, and the two got into a heated argument while Paul just said there with an amused expression on his face.

Meanwhile, Ash dashed into the canteen and bought almost everything there before beginning to devour the food instantly. Ash's stomach demanded food more than ever as Ash realised that he hadn't eaten for over 6 hours now – a personal record and something he hoped would never happen again. Now full and satisfied, he made his way back to his dorm holding his stomach.

**Ash POV**

Man, was I stuffed from that dinner! It felt so good to feel food in my mouth again, even if it was made by the canteen. As I passed some corridors, I could still see some freshmen wondering around trying to look for their rooms. I chuckled at this and remembered how I did the same at the start of last year.

"Are you getting tired Pikachu?" I asked my companion, before realising he wasn't there. I remembered how I had fed him back in my dorm and he fell asleep immediately after he was fed. I couldn't blame him. The ferry from Kanto to Sinnoh and then the trek from Sandgem Town to here really took its toll, and I couldn't wait to join Pikachu in the land of nod.

With my thoughts somewhere else, I didn't see somebody walk straight into me until it was too late. There was a thud that made me snap out of my thoughts as I fell on the floor. I noticed that were books scattered everywhere.

"Hey, look where you're going!" I shouted angrily as I rubbed my head before standing up.

"I'm so sorry! I should have looked where I was going!" The soft, sweet, almost angelic voice replied to me. I realised that it was a girl that had walked into me. I stared at back of her as she hurriedly picked up her books before she stood up and started to walk away.

"Hey, wait." I said as I reached over and grabbed her shoulder before she could walk too far. She turned around and stared at me. Just one look at her made all my drowsiness go away. She was beautiful. She had pale skin, midnight blue hair that complimented her sapphire blue eyes and rosy lips that made you want to kiss them. She looked at me apologetically before saying, "Again, I'm so sorry for running into you, I wasn't looking at where I was going."

"Hey, it's okay, accidents happen, right?" I said, smiling at her. For some reason, I wasn't angry or annoyed in the slightest by her any more. I stretched out my hand before saying, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ash. I guess you're new around here?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dawn," She said, whilst giving me a dazzling smile, "And yes, I am new here". She stretched out her hand and shook mine, I could have sworn I felt sparks from the contact. Before anything else happened, she moved her hand away. There was a minute's silence before she broke it.

"It was nice meeting you Ash," She said giving me another smile and walking away, "Sorry but I have to be somewhere now."

I looked at her retreating figure before giving a sigh as she finally disappeared from my view. I had to admit – that short skirt and tight top suited her figure well. I stood there for another minute, just going through what just went on in my head, before coming back to my senses and walking back to my dorm. All through the night, I only had one thought on my mind - the blue haired girl, Dawn.

**Dawn POV**

After Leaf and I had gotten off the ferry, we hurried into the academy for me to sign in. The lady at the reception was quite young and really nice. For some reason, I was expecting a mean old hag there!

To my utmost surprise and pleasure, I had found out that I would be staying in the same dorm as Leaf as well as two other girls that were friends with her from their previous year as freshmen.

"Hey guys." Leaf said as she walked into the dorm and saw two other girls sitting there, "I want to introduce you to my best friend, Dawn."

"Hello there, nice to meet you." I said as I smiled nervously at the two girls lying on their beds. One of them had red hair in a side ponytail and green eyes. She was wearing a yellow crop top with shorts and trainers – very tomboyish. She got up out of her bed and smiled at me, "Hey, nice to meet you Dawn, I'm Misty."

The other girl followed Misty's example and said, "Hey Daw, my name is May." May had brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a bandanna on her head and a red t-shirt with a dark blue circle around her neck, dark-blue shorts, white skirt and red and yellow sneakers (**A/N: I chose her Advanced Generation outfit, I think it looks better than the one she wore in Diamond and Pearl**).

Leaf jumped on one of the two beds and I quickly went over to the remaining one that was next to hers and started unpacking.

"Wow Dawn, how many clothes do you have?" May exclaimed as she saw the contents of one my suitcases. I smiled sheepishly but Leaf beat me to the answer.

"Come on May, it's not that much, I've probably got more. Besides, you're probally the one with not enough."

May crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, "Oh please, I think 3 sets of clothing are PLENTY for anyone."

I was shocked at this. What on earth was she saying? I couldn't possibly survive a week with 3 sets of clothes, let alone a whole school year! We got into a friendly argument about how many clothes you should have. As I would later learn, Misty would always side with May while I always sided with Leaf. After a while, we got bored of arguing and decided to chat about something else.

Misty and May were both pretty nice and we were good friends in no time. I learned that May was from Petalburg City in Hoenn and that her dad was the gym leader there and how Misty was from Cerulean City and how she and her three sisters worked at the gym. I was surprised to hear how Misty got bored of her 'glamorous' sisters so decided to accept a place at this academy. Wow… four of us here and two are related to gyms.

After we chatted for a bit, I decided to go back to reception to get my schoolbooks. Leaf wanted to come with me, but I told her that I'd go by myself to learn how to navigate the school better.

The way there was uneventful as I just followed the various signs that lead me to the main reception. There I was greeted by another receptionist, and this one resembled more of the evil receptionist I had imagined. After I had gotten everything, I started to make my way back into my dorm for it was getting quite late. I was busy trying to prevent the books in my hand from falling so I didn't look where I was going.

THUD!  
I accidently bumped into someone else, knocking both of us off our feet.

"Hey, look where you're going!" An angry voice shouted at me.

"I'm so sorry!" I apologised immediately, not daring to look him, "I should have looked at where I was going!" I looked at all my books littered on the floor, and started rapidly picking them up. Why did I have to have so many books? After I had picked up the last one, I hurriedly walked away. I didn't want to start a fight or be involved with some stupid drama on the first day here.

After I took my first step, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. "Hey, wait." The voice said again. I gulped. Fearing the worst, I turned around. I noticed the messy ebony black hair that belonged to a boy, and had to urge to tackle him and tame his hair. Still not making eye contact, I said quickly again, "Again I'm so sorry for running into you, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Hey, it's okay, accidents happen, right?" The voice said to me again. This time, his voice sounded more gentle, so I looked up into his eyes. His warm, brown chocolate eyes… "Nice to meet you, I'm Ash. I guess you're new around here?" The boy said, snapping my gaze from his eyes as he gave me a smile. I returned the smile and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Dawn." Before shaking his hand, "And yes, I am new here."

We stayed in silence for a minute, as I was thinking about something to say. He looked so handsome standing there, from his goofy smile to the zigzags that were on his cheeks. Just by staring at him, I could already feel myself blushing.

"It was nice meeting you Ash." I said, smiling at him again. For some reason, when I see him I can do nothing but smile, "Sorry but I have to be somewhere right now."

With that, I dashed away not wanting to get lost in his eyes again and headed for my dorm as quickly as possible.

"Hey Dawn, what took you so long?" Misty asked.

"Oh, nothing much." I replied as I placed all my books on my desk and jumped on my bed. The other three girls went straight back into conversation, but I was paying little attention. My thoughts were on a boy with messy black hair. _Ash._ I thought as I stared at the starry sky outside. When my mum and her friends came for tea, they could talk about it. At first, I thought something like that couldn't exist. But now, I could have proved myself wrong as I thought about Ash again. Could this be love at first sight?

**Woohoo, first chapter finished!**

**So how did I do? I know that I'm not very good at beginnings, so please bear with me if this isn't as good as you expected it to be, I had to set the scene. If you have any constructive criticism or comments about this chapter, please let me know.**

**The next chapter should be out sometime soon, but it's not guaranteed, I'm really busy with school and stuff like that.**

**Please review and comment, thanks.**

**Until next time everyone!**


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